Piper Announces First GA Aircraft with Autoland Capability

Re:Piper Announces First GA Aircraft with Autoland Capability by AWildC182 on Thursday October 31, 2019 @01:16PM (#21411199)

Piston engines are more efficient than turboprops which are more efficient than turbofan/turbojet engines. Newer piston engines are by far the most efficient option but are not used frequently as the piston fleet is very old.

To compare to a car, just using vehicle efficiency (not per passenger) a typical cessna is in the realm of a full size SUV in terms of carbon footprint. Both are about 10-15 mpg. The aircraft in the article is far worse but only because it's rather large and turbine powered. Optimized designs like the Long-EZ can easily hit in excess of 30mpg cruising at 160mph.

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Re:Piper Announces First GA Aircraft with Autoland Capability by segmondy on Thursday October 31, 2019 @04:47PM (#21413568)

But planes fly in straighter lines and will use less distance to get to their destination compared to cars. So you can't really use mpg. Best will be to measure gallons used per hour.

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Re:Piper Announces First GA Aircraft with Autoland Capability by AWildC182 on Thursday October 31, 2019 @05:30PM (#21413896)

Depends on the route. Flying IFR you can get routed all over the place. Also, head/tailwinds exist. It's more just to show ballpark relative efficiency numbers.

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